1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sleeves for connectors of optical fibers and more particularly to a sleeve for connector of optical fibers and method of manufacturing same with improved characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a connector of optical fibers is provided at a connecting point of either an optical source and a bundle of optical fibers or an optical detection member and a bundle of optical fibers. A connector for splicing a bundle of quartz optical fibers comprises a ferrule for fastening the bundle of optical fibers. The ferrule is then coupled to an optical relay for transmitting light and images to a distal place. A metal seat is provided in the relay. Also, a sleeve is coaxially provided in the seat. One end of the sleeve is coupled to an optical source or optical member. The ferrule is coupled to or disengaged from the sleeve in an axial direction. Hence, a coupling loss between an optical source and a bundle of optical fibers or between a bundle of optical fibers and an optical detection member can be determined by a tolerance of gap between the coupled sleeve and the ferrule. Obviously, the tolerance must fall within a limit. Typically, a ferrule having a diameter 2.499 mm can be inserted into a sleeve or removed from the same in which the bundle of optical fibers is required to align with the optical source or the optical detection member. For achieving the above purposes, an inner diameter of the sleeve is required to be about 2.500 mm.
A sleeve is typically made of ceramic. A process of manufacturing sleeve comprises forming a hollow cylinder by injection molding powder ceramic material, sintering the hollow cylinder, inserting a diamond rod into a bore of the cylinder to grind, and polishing an outer circumferential surface of the cylinder. However, the finished sleeve may not pass quality control. Thus, it is typical to check each finished product. This is a time consuming process. Further, dust may be generated from the powder. This is not healthy and may damage the environment. Furthermore, grinding and polishing equipments are expensive. Moreover, its production is low and the manufacturing cost is relatively high. In addition, tolerance of an inner diameter of sleeve is required to be within 1 μm. However, the well known grinding equipment can only realize a tolerance within 3 μm. As an end, the prior technique has a low yield. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.